Exhibition captures Seoul in two different times

Seoul has gone through a lot in the past century, from Japanese occupation to the Korean War, and rapid industrialization to prosperity.Seoul Museum of History is holding two separate exhibitions featuring Korea’s capital in two different time periods that offer a rare glimpse into how the city has been transformed into what it is today.One of the exhibitions, “Seoul 1953-1963” showcases photograp

March 29, 2011

Museum launches culture program for spouses of foreign envoys, CEOs

The Korea Furniture Museum, which hosted luncheon for spouses of G20 leaders during the G20 Seoul Summit in November, launched an academic program on Tuesday for spouses of foreign ambassadors to Korea and expat CEOs to help them discover traditional Korean heritage.While spouses of foreign ambassadors normally spend about three years in Korea, their exposure to Korean culture is relatively limite

March 29, 2011

Hong Ra-hee makes comeback as Leeum’s director

Hong Ra-hee, wife of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, recently returned to her post as director of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. Hong resumed to the post on March 16 and attended the opening ceremony of “Korean Rhapsody,” an ongoing exhibition at the museum, on the same day. “She planned to return in time for the Korean Rhapsody exhibition. But then the earthquake hit Japan and the overal

March 29, 2011

How shy boy became a big photographer

Photographer Koo talks about finding beauty in bric-a-brac as he opens exhibition of his collection of miscellaneous objectsAs a boy, Koo Bohnchang liked to explore his father’s front yard alone rather than playing ball with his friends, a constant cause of concern for his parents. Little did they know that their boy would grow up to be a famous photographer. Koo, who is now 58 and a professor at

March 28, 2011

Glenn Morrissette’s music moves with him, in mobile recording studio

LOS ANGELES ― If the music to the Season 9, Episode 5 installment of Fox’s animated sitcom “Family Guy” had a relaxed feel, maybe it was because of the 104-degree mineral water.Glenn Morrissette helped orchestrate the score after a leisurely soak last October in the natural hot springs in the tiny northwestern Wyoming town of Thermopolis.Morrissette did his work from his recording studio on wheels

March 28, 2011

Team spirit saves TIMF opening

Late composer Yun I-sang’s birthplace holds concerts, master classes, lecturesTONGYEONG ― When the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra abruptly canceled its opening concert for the Tongyeong International Music Festival due to fear of radiation from Japan spreading to Korea, TIMF artistic director Alexander Liebreich said he was quite surprised and could not understand the decision.Despite the short noti

March 27, 2011

Long-lost Chopin letters revealed by Polish museum

WARSAW (AFP) ― Six letters written by 19th century composer and pianist Frederic Chopin, thought to have been lost since World War II, were Thursday revealed by the Polish museum dedicated to the musical icon.Warsaw’s Chopin Museum said that it spent almost a decade trying to obtain the letters and dozens of other documents related to the composer after getting wind of them in 2003.The paper trial

March 27, 2011

Events Calendar

Exhibitions“Hybrid Code”: Savina Museum of Contemporary Art offers 30 paintings, sculptures, photos, installations and video artworks which gave new functions to familiar objects by applying high-technology. The exhibition is divided into three sections ― Psychological Mutant, Expansion of Architectural Concept and Apply Science to Daily Life. It runs through April 14 at Savina Museum of Contempor

March 25, 2011

Don Quixote: ballet to make you laugh

Presented by Universal Ballet, the nation’s oldest private ballet company, the humorous ballet “Don Quixote,” opens Friday at the Opera Theater in Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul. Based on Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes’s novel of the same title, its ballet version premiered in the 1750s. Since then, it has been the world’s most-loved comical ballet. While the original novel r

March 24, 2011

Puccini and Verdi operas coming in April

Maestro Chung Myung-whun, Seoul Philharmonic to perform in Verdi’s ‘Simon Boccanegra’Popular operas by Italy’s two most famous opera composers ― Puccini and Verdi ― will be staged in Seoul in April.The Seoul Metropolitan Opera Company will stage opera “Tosca,” one of the most frequently performed operas among Puccini’s works, from April 21 to April 24 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts’

March 23, 2011

‘Worst song ever’ tops 30m YouTube views

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― A song by a California teenager that has been mercilessly panned by music critics has topped 30 million views on YouTube and rocketed up Apple’s iTunes charts.“Friday,” sung by 13-year-old Rebecca Black, was uploaded to YouTube last month by Ark Music Factory, a Los Angeles-based company that was hired by the girl’s parents to produce the song for their daughter.“It’s Friday, Fr

March 23, 2011

Intoxicating poppy flower paintings

Like the woman of the same name who was known to have been one of the four beauties of ancient China, the “Yang Guifei,” or “poppy flower,” was so mesmerizingly beautiful that he stopped short and stared for a long time. Artist Kwon In-su, who had never really been into flowers before, was totally captivated by the flower and ended up opening a solo exhibition entirely dedicated to it. “It was a t

March 22, 2011

National museum exhibits 14th century Chinese celadon

Popular Longquan ware found in sunken ship off coast of Sinan shows beauty and culture of 14th century AsiaThe National Museum of Korea is holding a special exhibition featuring about 90 pieces of 14th century Chinese celadon ware found in a shipwreck.The featured pieces are known to be from the Longquan region of China’s southern Zhejiang province, where the most superior kind of Chinese celadon

March 22, 2011

Public consequences of pop stars’ private gigs

LOS ANGELES ― When pop stars Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Nelly Furtado and 50 Cent recently said they’d renounced millions of dollars they’d received for performing for members of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi’s family, they drew attention to a growing and controversial cultural phenomenon: celebrity artists being hired by rich, powerful and sometimes disreputable clients to play at private or semi-

March 21, 2011

Secrets of long-running musicals

Easy-to-follow story, timely changes and wit are keys to success for small-stage performancesNo matter how much blockbuster musicals boast of their leading stars, or how low and lewd some small theater shows become in a quest for custom, there remain several decent small-stage musicals that are long-running successes. South Korean original musicals such as: “Finding Kim Jong-wook;” “Sarangun Birul

March 21, 2011

Korea’s hidden gems on German tour

German museums pull out 116 artifacts from their Korean art collections for traveling exhibitiA two-year touring exhibition of Korean art and cultural artifacts in Germany will kick off Friday at the country’s Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne. The exhibition “Korea Rediscovered ― Treasures from German Collections” is co-organized by the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, and the Korea Foundat

March 20, 2011

Events calendar

Exhibitions“Philosopher’s Tree”: Michael Kenna’s black and white tree photographs entice visitors to go find their own tall trees to lie beneath. Kenna is referred to as a “landscape photographer,” especially known for his serene photos of trees delicately highlighted with natural light. The Brit received numerous awards including the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from the Culture Min

March 18, 2011